Nothing is as interesting to Wannstedt as football. His swing thoughts in golf all involve blocking and tackling. Once, he played a round with former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll and brought with him 18 subjects to ask Noll about, one a hole.

When the Wannstedts and Wise were driving from their job at Oklahoma State to Pittsburgh, they stopped at 11 p.m. to switch drivers. Dave took the wheel so Tony and Jan could sleep.

"I can still hear it to this day," Wise said. "The pop of an ammonia capsule. He's trying to stay awake."

"All of a sudden Tony's head hits the window and my feet are flying in the air," Jan said. "We were all wide awake."

Jan, pregnant with second daughter Jami, drove the rest of the night.

"I couldn't trust either one of them," she said.

They are not inseparable. Wise vacationed in Banff, Alberta, this summer. He likes the colder climate; the Wannstedts prefer warmth. The Wannstedt girls, Keri and Jami, gave Tony a compass. Dave coached at USC for three years while Tony was at Oklahoma State, Syracuse and Miami, but they roomed together at coaching conventions.

Together, they know exactly which direction they are taking the Bears.

"Dave is an extremely positive human being," Wise said. "He believes the best in everybody is going to come out. I'm a little bit more cynical. I'm always giving the different side of things. I have a good feeling about the way we did it at Oklahoma State, Miami and Dallas."

Whenever Wannstedt talks to coaches from other teams and considers other ideas from many places, he will bounce them off Wise.

"I want everybody involved so we can maximize everybody's abilities," Wannstedt said. "There's a fine line where sometimes I get too much. Then Tony is the guy I'll call in and close the door and he'll say, `We've got too many ideas. Let's get down to what we know is right and what we really believe in.' "

So Wise has been particularly comforting to Wannstedt in these last few days and weeks before the regular season when the Bears haven't looked so great, right?

"I've stayed completely away from him," Wise said.

Not completely. Like Wannstedt and Jimmy Johnson at Dallas, Wannstedt and Wise have lockers separate from other coaches at games.

"It's nice to have somebody in there you can at least have some conversation with," Wannstedt said. "And after the game when things are good you can be with someone you enjoy and when things are bad you've got someone you know was in the foxhole with you."

During the games, they are less likely to converse. Wannstedt tried it once.

"It's fourth and inches and I want to go for it," Wannstedt said. "I'm talking to Mike Shula and Ron Turner and I say, `Ron, do we have a play you like?' I call Tony down and ask, `You feel good about this?' Tony says, `Punt the football.'

"Our relationship went from head coach and line coach to Dave and Tony. Everything went blank and we start arguing. I said, `You mean to tell me we can't make 2 inches?' He looked and said, `That's exactly what I'm telling you.' I said, `Punt the football.' It's the last time I ever asked his opinion. Whenever we're around the 50 and I tell Butler to get loose, Tony gets nervous. He still wants to punt."

"I am extremely conservative," Wise said.

Wannstedt and Johnson were close, but not like Wannstedt and Wise.

"I can't remember the last Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter when he hasn't eaten at our house," Wannstedt said.

"One time he planned to go home and I said, `Home? What do you mean, you're going home?' " Jan said.

They met in 1977 when Wise joined the Pitt staff as a grad assistant. Wannstedt coached tight ends and Wise helped on the offensive line.

"I didn't have a car," Wise said. "I didn't have a place to stay. I stayed in the stadium."

The Wannstedts would invite him over.

"We always hit it off," Jan said.

When the Wannstedts moved from USC to join Johnson in Miami in 1986, they lived with Wise for a while.

"Our girls don't call him Uncle Tony, but it's the same thing, maybe more so because he's always at our house," Jan said. "They are closer than brothers."